Bus drivers will be paid interest on top of a generous €55 million package for their buses should the reformed transport system not kick in by March of next year, under a deal they struck with the government.
The sum is actually €3 million more than the "final offer" made to them by Transport Minister Austin Gatt on Saturday.
But, beyond the extra money, the government also bound itself to a timetable of payment that will see the bus owners being paid 10 per cent of the sum agreed by April 1, another 20 per cent by January 2, 2011 and the rest when the bus licence is withdrawn. However, if this does not take place by March 1, 2011, the government is committed to start paying interest at the Central Bank rate plus 1.5 per cent.
Under the latest compromise deal, the individual compensation agreement has been increased to €103,000 from €98,000 for old buses and €123,000, up from €118,000, for the newer low-floor buses.
The bus owners will renounce to their licence but will instead also get a 10-year guaranteed job paid at least €9,486 a year with the new public transport operators. They now have until 8 p.m. today to sign a contract accepting to surrender their vehicles and the licences.
The Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry had already reacted with "utter disbelief" to the original compensation package, urging the government to use public funds more judiciously.
When announcing the second deal, the Transport Ministry defended the amount being spent, saying it was bound by the country's Constitution to compensate people whose business or land is taken from them.
The bus owners rejected the original offer during a meeting on Monday night.
They made a counter-proposal for compensation of €116,000 for old buses and €140,000 for the low-floor ones, which would work out to a total cost of €62 million to public coffers.
On Tuesday night, three members of the Public Transport Association committee, including president Victor Spiteri, had a six-hour meeting at the Transport Ministry, during which all details were thrashed out and the government accepted to raise its offer to €55 million.
The committee members present signed what had been agreed upon and a declaration stating that they would recommend that their members accept the deal during an extraordinary meeting for bus owners and drivers late last night. The outcome of the meeting was still not known by the time of going to press.
The ministry said that, according to PTA's indications, about 204 of the 340 bus owners would accept to work with the new transport operator.
At present, 508 public transport buses are in operation, of which 131 are low-floor.
The government wants to sell the low-floor buses to the new operator and scrap the old ones, except for those classified as vintage. These can be used to provide sightseeing tours but the owners would not be able to benefit from the full compensation figure.